Next Steps
by MysticChemyst
Summary: It's been two years since the battle on the moon and things are finally settling down. Or are they? After a strange, drunken night, Soul and Maka find themselves in bed...naked! Now, not only do they have to deal with a new threat, but also chaos and uncertainty in their partnership.
1. A New Morning

A/N (Skip this if you really don't care, lol. :P )

1) this fic is supposed to be a continuation of where the manga left off (since the anime pulled an FMA on us) but even if you've only seen the show, I think it should be okay to follow. If you wanna check it out, the anime/manga diverge at chapter 37 or around the middle of S3 E8.

2) I try to refer to Chrona in a gender neutral way, but otherwise use the male pronoun cuz...English. Yeah.

3) I'll work hard to stay true to the world and characters, but I probably won't always succeed and my writing may get clunky; in which case...review! :D But please be nice, this is my first FF! :O D: XD

4) DWMA = Shibusen

5) Rated T/M (lemon...EVENTUALLY) but no PWP here, so... sowwy, you'll have to be patient! ;)

6) DISCLAIMER: blah blah... I do not own Soul Eater or any of the characters, etc. *tear* *pout*

7) I'll update when i can! but... college student and all that jazz.

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Chapter 1: A New Morning

Soul "Eater" Evans jolted awake and sat up in bed, the comforter falling to his naked waist. "Man, this is so not cool," he grumbled, clutching his head. A headache was brewing, suggesting he'd had a bit too much to drink at last night's annual party (the only night students were allowed a small bit of alcohol), but at least it wasn't nearly as bad as the one he'd gotten after he and Black*Star had snuck into the Academy's wine cellar. Yawning a little, Soul looked blearily around the room, with its alphabetized books and tidy desk, and clutched his head again. It was hard to see in the dim light of the pre-dawn, but he knew immediately where he was. _Crap. What am I doing in Maka's room of all places? I don't remember. This is so not cool. Waking up to this much girly-ness. Ugh. But why can't I…huh?_ A small movement from beside him interrupted his train of thought.

Glancing down, Soul froze and broke out in a nervous sweat. A girl's bare shoulder and tousled, mousy hair had been revealed when the cover slipped in her sleep. _WHY AM I IN BED WITH MAKA?! And why, GAH! Is she…Is that…Is she.…NAKED?!_ Maka pulled at the cover in her sleep and Soul realized something perhaps even more disturbing: he DEFINITELY wasn't wearing pajamas either. Or anything at all, for that matter. _Gggh! I am going to be in sooo much trouble when she wakes up! And I don't even remember how we got into this mess! If I sneak away now, maybe all of this will go away… oh man. But what if…what if THAT happened. She would probably KNOW and then I would STILL be in trouble. Especially if I try to hide it. I mean, I don't THINK we did, but…damn. DAMN! Not cool!_

"mhhpff...Soul…" Maka's quiet, dreamy mumble halted the crashing stream in Soul's mind. Soul's face heated and he glanced away briefly, rubbing his nose. "Huh," Unable to keep his eyes away, Soul turned back to watch his Meister, sleeping so peacefully beside him on the cramped twin bed. _I rarely get to see her like this lately. She looks so relaxed and…happy. No, not happy, content. Its… nice. Huh. Well. Maybe this isn't so bad after all..._ The death scythe pondered a little as he watched the girl; the partner whose face he had come to know almost better than his own. _Running away at this point would definitely not be cool. I'm not that kind of guy. And she doesn't seem like she'll wake up any time soon._ _There's no way I'm waking her up now, and risk getting the "Maka Chop" this early in the morning_. A decidedly lascivious grin broke across his face, all pointy teeth and devilment. _I'm still tired, after all. And it's not even daylight yet. Might as well live it up while I can and face the music later._

Having decided to push his luck, Soul slowly, carefully lay down again and crept his way back beneath the covers. _Okay Soul, now just be cool. Be. Cool._ Sweating slightly, biting his lip, Soul tentatively snuck his arm toward where he presumed Maka's side to be. Ages seemed to tick by while he tried to nonchalantly make his way to his goal without waking the dreaming time-bomb. _Ngh!_ Berating himself, the scythe almost blew his cover as his fingers brushed something soft, warm and smooth. Something almost like electricity, their soul wavelengths arking, sent a small spark of energy between them. _Crap! You are way cooler than this, man! To freak out over touching a girl's skin?! Pathetic! Besides, it's not like you haven't touched her before, right?_ Soul tried to reason with himself _...Like her hand, or over her clothes...or…_ Refocused by the temptation of so much bare skin, hidden by the sheet, Soul grabbed hold of his composure and gently draped his arm over his Meister's waist.

 _See._ He carefully let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. _I can do this. Easy._ The Weapon conveniently ignored the throbbing in his chest as his heart raced and heat began to radiate throughout his body from the bare skin connecting them. _So…warm. Definitely not cool. But…I…yeah…_ As Soul's heartbeat slowed he drifted back to sleep, unconsciously inching closer to his partner and her warmth, his memory hazily returning, as if in a dream. Or was it a nightmare? Only morning would tell.


	2. The Evening Before (Part 1)

A/N : I don't own Soul Eater. :'(

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Chapter 2: The Evening Before (Part 1)

"This is already gonna suck, the least she could do is be on time. _She_ 's the one who likes these kind of shindigs," grumbling to himself, Soul glanced at the clock, dressed in his evening best with a slightly disgusted look on his face. Tonight was the annual celebration of the DWMA founding and Soul didn't particularly want to go. The formality was annoying, there would be too many people, and the music was always crap. But attendance was...expected, and Maka wouldn't stand for him skipping. On top of that, it was Kidd's first time hosting the annual party since replacing Lord Death, so not only would there be a long and boring speech, but Soul's absence would _definitely_ be noted by his...classmate? boss? whatever. "C'mon already, Maka! We're going to be late!" Soul shouted from the entryway of their apartment, where he slouched against the doorframe.

"Can it, Soul!" The angry reply came from the depths of Maka's bedroom. "I'm almost ready! And besides, it's your fault anyway!"

"HAAAH?! No way! How is it MY fault?! If you didn't always take so damn long to get ready for these things, we could have been there already and not had to wait in line for the free food!" _And I would have been able to scope out a place to avoid most of the chaos without being noticed._

"All I'm saying is, if you hadn't insisted on goofing off with Black*Star before the party, I wouldn't have had to lecture you instead of getting ready!"

"That is NOT my fault! You didn't have to get so mad in the first place! it wasn't a big deal! God, Maka, you are so frustrating sometimes!"

"This is Kidd's big night! Knowing Black*Star, you guys could easily gotten up to something that would cause problems for him!" Maka's volume varied as she moved around doing who-knew-what in her room.

"Lighten up, will ya? As much as I hate this party-thing, I'm not the kinda guy to sabotage a friend and his big party. Maybe just...liven it up a little." Soul grinned toothily at that last part. Death the Kidd was just too fun to prank sometimes. Although nowadays you had to be careful; he was packing a helluva lot more of a punch now he was a full-fledged reaper, and the guy could kick ass before. The power boost Soul'd gotten from being transformed into a DeathScythe couldn't compare.

"See! That's what I mean!" Maka had finally opened the door and stood angrily in the entrance, glaring warningly at the weapon...who was staring at his dress shoes.

"Oh whatever. Are you finally ready now? Maybe this party will help you loosen up. You've been really annoying these last…" Soul trailed off briefly as he looked up. "few months," he hurriedly finished. Swallowing thickly, Soul thoroughly observed the young woman, no, the _vision_ , in front of him, doing his best to keep his face expressionless.

In the years he had known her, and especially the last few, the young girl he called meister had bloomed and filled out into something more. Oh sure, she was still lithe and slender, and she'd never be curvaceous on the level of Tsubaki or the Thompson sisters, but-especially wearing what she was now-there was no longer any mistaking her for a boy.

Maka felt herself blush under Soul's perusal, his crimson eyes darkening to match the burgundy of her dress. Looking down she smoothed her palms over the material on her stomach. The strapless dress fit snugly on the bodice before nipping in around her waist and flaring out delicately over her hips with a gossamer over-shell. The gown fit perfectly, giving her the hourglass figure she'd always admired, and left little to the imagination about her actual shape. A fact she was slightly self-conscious about. But she loved the way it flowed about her knees and hips, the way it caressed her when she spun, making her feel like magic was swirling around her and transforming her. The dress made her feel free and, she secretly admitted, just a bit sexy and alluring.

She'd picked up the dress, at first, because it reminded her of Soul's eyes and she'd thought it would make a good match for the dance. But she _had_ worried about the weapon's reaction, and with the way he was looking at her so intensely, she feared she'd been right. It was ridiculous for someone with her shape to wear a dress like this. But she'd bought it, she looked good in it, and she didn't have time or want to change into something that might be more _acceptable_.

"Well! Is something wrong?!" Maka demanded. She was glad when her voice came out firm and indignant, instead of reflecting her inner turmoil. Soul's dark eyes focused on hers.

"Yeah. We're late." Soul was desperately trying to cover his reaction to that stunning dress. Well...the woman-girl in it. But seeing the anger rise in his miester's face, he added "but you look great. Now c'mon. Let's go already." He wheeled around on his heel and slouched down the steps, giving himself no time to observe her reaction.


	3. The Evening Before (Part 2)

A/N: I don't own Soul Eater. :'( Enjoy the chapter!

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Chapter 3: The Evening Before (Part 2)

Maka delicately clutched her wine glass just in front of her with both hands as she peered around the crowded dance floor for her weapon partner. She paid special attention to the dimly lit alcoves and balconies where he was wont to frequent at events like this. Kidd's introduction speech, long winded as it had been, went over surprisingly well (no thanks to Soul and Black*Star). But luckily, much of the shenanigans had been avoided after Maka had discovered part of their plan and warned Sid and some other faculty to be on the lookout. A fact the devious pair were still a little miffed at. They had been plotting some ridiculous prank involving something about throwing off the symmetry, and fireworks to liven up Kidd's speech...she hadn't really paid much attention to the details.

But regardless, the festivities had begun and the dance hall was now filled with music, laughter, and the kaleidoscopic swirl and flash of fabric and sequins as everyone danced. There was an almost desperate undertone to the abandon the students and faculty partied with. It had been two long years since the last Shibusen dance. Two years since the trapping of the kishin and darkening of the moon. At first, everyone had been too busy frantically putting out fires caused by the kishin's madness-not to mention trying to maintain the shaky alliance with the witches-to even think about partying. Kidd, especially, had had his hands full, having recently lost his father and not only inherited new and foreign abilities, but also the DWMA and all associated responsibilities. Surprisingly enough, it had been that pretentious, aggravating weapon, Excalibur, who had provided the most help to the new Lord Death; although the young shinigami still had a long way to go.

Now, however, things had finally settled down enough to hold a proper party to celebrate and cut loose. But although the job requests Shibusen received were now returned to a largely normal level, and things seemed to be settling back down to a pre-kishin state, there was an almost intangible sense of lurking danger in the atmosphere. Veteran weapons and meisters, especially, could feel it, like weathered fishermen sensing the oncoming storm.

They danced to forget troubled pasts and escape the questionable future.

Maka knew she had been one of those feeling the most pressure from the brewing strife, and it had been hard on her partner. But she wanted to be prepared. If the battle on the moon had shown her anything, it was that she could still push herself further: the gap between herself and Kidd and Black*Star was big even considering their freakish strength. _Che._ Maka grumbled at the thought. She had her own strengths to play to, but she still needed to improve some of her weaker areas. Chrona was counting on her. _And lately it feels like I'm the only one who still has hope. I_ KNOW _we can save Chrona. I'll find a way. No matter what! I have to._ A change in the song broke the meister's reverie and she shook herself slightly. As much as she cared about Chrona, she couldn't forget about her other friends along the way: tonight was for fun and she hadn't had much of that lately. Ruthlessly shoving a whisper of guilt into a corner of her heart, she continued her search.

Half the reason she had even come to this party was because she hoped to make it up to Soul. She knew she'd been a bit of a grouch lately but he'd just been going along with her moods, although recently she'd noticed his rope was running a little short. Parties might not be his thing, or so he claimed, but Soul usually cheered up after some food and time with their friends. Or, at the very least, watching them and the other Shibusen students make fools of themselves while awkwardly dancing or flirting with their dates. And it was an off chance, but maybe she could even get Soul to dance with her to work on their soul resonance. With the strain of all her training a quiet note of discord had crept into it recently, and they couldn't afford for it to grow.

But she couldn't spot her weapon's shock of white hair anywhere. There was Marie, taking her turn dancing with the host while keeping half her attention on her husband, Stein, and their daughter. The professor with the huge screw in his head stood off in a corner, an unlit cigarette to his lips, casually leaning against the wall while watching the thing crawling around in front of him with bemused scientific interest. He still hadn't quite adjusted to the tiny human who had been a part of his and Marie's life for more than a year, now. Maka shook her head.

A flutter of giggles caught her attention and she turned to spot cluster of girls crowded over by one of the grand hall's pillars. Tamping down a spark of annoyance she decided to go investigate what the fuss was all about. Soul was likely the object of their attention. Despite the time that had passed since his transformation into a Death Scythe, girls still flocked to him, the coolest guy on campus and the "last Death Scythe," desiring him as partner and more. Thankfully, though, most of the attention was now limited to fawning from afar. More than two years of refusals to switch partners was enough for most to get the message. But they could still hope. After all, even though Maka was top of her class, the two personalities didn't make much sense together...unless there was something more to their relationship than just weapon and meister. As far as anyone knew, though (and it was _definitely_ discussed in the rumor mills) the duo had an entirely platonic relationship. Much to the frustrations of Black*Star and Tsubaki, and even occasionally Kidd and the Thompson sisters. The friends had tried, sporadically, to get Soul and Maka together, but each attempt had failed miserably and sailed past them, blissfully unnoticed. Much the way the gaggle of girls' glares went completely unobserved by Maka as she stalked past and came into view of Soul, setting her now empty wine glass on a passing server's tray on her way.

The grouch sat slumped in a chair, half-ignoring Black*Star's incessant chatter, as he smirked out at the faceless crowd. His arrogant look rapidly faded when he spotted his meister strolling towards him, replaced with a slightly wary and definitely more intense expression. That walk said she was after something, and he wasn't sure he'd enjoy it, not with the way things had been going lately.

Maka stopped in front of him and Soul peered up with hooded eyes, garnet meeting forest green.

"Hey, Soul, wanna dance?" with her cheery voice and head tilted curiously, it was hard to believe she was one of the most dangerous meisters at the academy.

"Now why would I want to do that?" he drawled, "You know I hate dancing"

"C'mon, you know our resonance has been off lately, and dancing might help. Besides, even if you deny it, you _are_ good at dancing." She avoided mentioning the Evans family as the reason for his skill; it wouldn't do to sour things before they'd gotten started.

"Doesn't matter. I don't dance. And besides, why would I dance with someone with no curves at all?" Soul's usual dig, intended to reestablish firm ground for his heart, belied his actual feelings on the subject of the undeniably stunning girl and succeeded far better than he had planned. As his meister wheeled around, back stiff and chin high with disdain, he thought he caught a sparkle at the corner of her eye.

"Fine then. But when our resonance completely dissolves, don't blame me. And _don't_ say I didn't warn you. If you won't put any effort into our partnership, you might as well put in more effort at the apartment: you have dish duty for the next two weeks." With a final disgusted sniff, she stalked off in the general direction of the food tables and Tsubaki.

"Ouch, man. That was harsh. It wouldn't kill you to dance with her, ya know? And now you have to do dishes for two whole weeks. I hate dishes. That sucks. Are you an idiot or something?" Black*Star's comments, running parallel to his own thoughts, did _not_ improve Soul's mood. He wasn't quite sure why he'd shut her down, or especially why she'd seemed to take it so hard. It wasn't any different from what he usually said. As he brooded after his meister, now complaining to Tsubaki while filling a plate, he wondered how to salvage the situation. _It's not like I'd hate to dance with her. It's just...all these people, ugh. And what's so special about dancing anyway? There's got to be other things to do to improve our resonance, and it's not like it's really all that bad. I'm sure it will settle down after a little while...right?_

Completely lost in thought, the albino weapon was oblivious to Black*Star's sideways glance and subsequent eye-roll. Those two were just so pathetic, sometimes _. But with any luck, by the end of tonight, there'd be one more idiot-couple happily going around Shibusen. And they'd be praising_ him _as the biggest and best guy around. The one who brought them such happiness._ The blue-haired assassin grinned conspiratorially to himself as he watched his partner with Maka and planned their next move.


	4. And So It Begins

A/N: Yay! Christmas Update! (Not that it's Christmas themed).

Thank you everyone who's read, followed, commented, or favorited my fic so far, it means a lot. I also apologize that it's been so long since I last updated. School and the end of the year got absolutely nuts-o. ANYWAY... I hope you enjoy!

As always, I don't own Soul Eater or any of the characters etc.

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Tsubaki nervously glanced across the floor in time to see her meister's scheming grin. When he gave her an _*ever-so-subtle_ thumbs up, she felt her heart sink and she looked worriedly at the frustrated girl in front of her. Maka was angrily putting selections on her plate from the smorgasbord laid out for the party. Tsubaki felt bad for the blond girl, and guilty for what she was going to do, but Black*Star was right; enough was enough. She was tired of watching her friends obliviously tiptoe around each other. And when things like this happened-when they ended up hurting each other because they didn't know how to do anything other than keep the status quo-it was downright unbearable.

The usually serene weapon knew, or had a pretty great guess, as to why Maka was fighting back hurt and the shimmer of tears using anger. Even if she wasn't fully aware of it herself. She, Tsubaki, Liz and Patti had spent the better portion of their limited free time over the past month getting ready for this event. And who could blame them? They were, most of them, 17 almost 18 now (older still if you considered on occasion how battle had aged them), and it had been a long time since they'd cut loose. Not to mention it would be nice to have male attention different from the companionship of their partners. At the very least, the girls wanted to shake up their partners a little; maybe cause a heartbeat skip or two. No one wanted this more than Maka, although she'd never admit it, even to herself.

They'd all changed so much and so little in the past two years. Living it, they didn't often notice, but some things were obvious to those who rarely saw them. The biggest change was that Black*Star now matched Tsubaki in height. Incidentally, Soul had managed to top him by almost an inch-a fact that frustrated Black*Star to no end-but was definitely the lankier of the pair. Watching the two together was like observing a lion and cheetah. Both had a grace about them, and a feral edge, although the latter was less apparent now than when they were fighting. Maka, too, had changed, no longer a shapeless sprout-although her partener still often teased her as if she were. Tsubaki thought her rather beautiful, with her more willowy form. Honestly, the taller girl's more hefty cures were often a pain in the ass and she sometimes envied her friend.

But even so, even if she never said anything, the dark-haired weapon knew Maka was getting tired of her partner's comments whenever the subject of the feminine form came up. As strong and confident as she was, there were just some things that tended to undermine a woman's self-image, especially over time. Empathizing with their friend, the other girls had decided the dance would be the perfect time to strike back and mix things up. Although they didn't have nearly as much trouble, they had their own reasons to get the boys in their lives to wake up. It was the principle of the thing! And thus the month long planning had begun. Over the weeks, Maka's growing excitement hadn't gone unnoticed, and the quartet had had a lot of fun planning every detail and roping each other into the quintessential girly anticipation and minute preparation.

"...and I don't even know why it's bothering me so much! It's not like I even care that he still thinks of me as a thirteen year old brat with a chip on her shoulder,"

Tsubaki broke from her reverie when her friend plunked a cookie down on her plate with particular emphasis to her grumbling.

"Stupid Soul! gephe...and I!...grrehnge." Maka trailed off into unintelligible grumbles.

"I'm sorry, Maka. I'm sure he didn't mean it," doing her best to sooth the girl while internally wishing she could knock that idiot albino a new one, she continued. "And it's no surprise you're hurt; after all, we've been preparing for this for a long time! And you look fantastic! A little complimenting from your friend shouldn't be too much to ask for." Maka nodded a bit sadly and looked back at the banquet table. "would you like me to get you some punch?" Tsubaki asked, hoping her voice remained completely consoling and didn't betray her nervousness.

"Yeah, that'd be okay. Thanks, Tsubaki. You're such a great friend. Unlike _some_ people I know," she shot a venomous glance to the idiot in question.

"Oh, don't be silly, Maka!" The girl laughed somewhat affectedly. Back turned, the weapon walked the few paces to the punch bowl, filled a cup, and-with a last desperate glance at Black*Star, who gave her a grim nod of command-slipped the contents of the vial hidden in her sleeve into the fruity drink. "Here ya go!" whirling around, she handed over the glass, her voice a little too bright for the situation, but her gloomy friend didn't seem to notice.

"Thanks," Maka said again, chugging the contents before going back to the munchies, completely missing the wide-eyed look her friend was giving her. "Would you mind getting me a little more? Soul is such an idiot. I'm just going to eat and drink and enjoy myself and that jerk can just go shove it!" Steam was practically puffing out her nostrils in anger.

"S-sure!" and a refilled cup was produced, sans the extra contents this time.

A wide-eyed frightened frown was turned on her partner just in time to see the blue-haired teen surreptitiously slip the contents of his own hidden vial into Soul's half-drunk soda as his view was blocked by some flocking first years. Looking rather pleased with himself, Black*Star leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs, arms going behind his head after giving Tsubaki another confident smirk and thumbs-up. _And now...we wait_. Tsubaki could practically hear the thought run through her meister's mind.

She was still unsure of this plan, even more so now that they'd started but, well, it was too late to go back now. The drug they'd lifted from Stein's lab was supposedly mostly harmless. Theoretically it would just make them feel as if they'd drunk a lot more than they actually had, and maybe rev the attraction a little bit. Theoretically. Despite being a brilliant scientist, you couldn't always trust some of the experimental things Stein came up with. He liked dissecting a little too much.

Of course, the professor hadn't actually missed the fact that a pair of vials were missing. He'd even, sharp eyes hidden behind flashing round specs, observed the duo slipping the substance into their unsuspecting friends' drinks. _Well this should be interesting._ The doctor blew an imaginary puff of smoke from between his lips. He really hated the fact that he couldn't light his cigarettes any more, what with the little one around. But Marie packed one hell of a punch when she got mad, and he knew she had a point about the kid's health. Although a small part of him was mildly interested in doing a study of the effect his smoking had on her throughout her life.

Watching as both Maka and then Soul, downed their drinks, a smile-tinged-mad flickered momentarily across his face. He saw as much as the students did, sometimes more than the other professors, and was well aware of the match-making schemes of the pair's friends. He honestly thought their purely platonic relationship was a bit ridiculous himself, not that that was really an opinion for a teacher to have... Stein glanced at his watch. Things should start getting interesting in about half an hour, if his formula worked as expected. He was fascinated to see what might become of the pair in the coming days. They had the potential to have one of the greatest soul-resonances ever, a power to rival even Black*Star and Kidd, the pair she had been chasing since the battle on the Moon. It would be a new chapter for the soul-theory books. Or it would be an unmitigated disaster.

Maka stumbled into Tsubaki as she made her wobbly angry way back towards her partner. The drug was working much more quickly than expected. Soul seemed somewhat less affected, as made his way, with barely a trip, towards Maka after Black*Star pushed him out of his chair. He turned to verbally berate his obnoxious friend, clearly not wanting to move or go anywhere near his partner when something the dark haired weapon said caught his attention. Whirling around, Stein watched with no little amusement as the Death Scythe displayed visible over-protection and, removing Maka from Tsubaki, took her arm and draped it over his shoulder. The lanky white haired teen managed to successfully get his partner out of the dance hall and into a cab without causing much suspicion of intoxication and the scientist had to give a nod to the boy's discretion. Chuckling quietly, Stein blew another imaginary puff. "This should be very interesting indeed," he muttered under his breath.


End file.
